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Saturday, 18 April 2009

Rhubarb rhubarb..........

At last it's time for rhubarb! Bit late here, as my two existing crowns got raided by the chickens! I also planted tow more, so wil have double the crop next year, all things being equal and no chicken invasions.......So - what to do with rhubarb? The first fruit of the seasons, it's always welcome,a nd very versatile. My first picking usually goes into rhubarb schnapps:

About half a dozen nice red stems to a bottle of vodka and a couple of spoonfuls of sugar; into a Kiolner jar or similar, good shake , and store in a coold ark place for a couple of months, shaking occasionally. Strain into bottles, label and store. Very, very good.

Use the leaves of the plant to make an effective spray agains blackfyl on broad beans, but spray before the blackfly arrives. Just boil the leaves in water for a few hours, strain and bottle the resulting liquid - LABEL WELL and keep it out of the way of children. Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which is toxic.

It makes one of the best crumbles, also good for pies, and married with ginger makes a beautiful jam. Goes well with real vanilla flavourings too, orange and gigner, makes lovely fools and ice creams and stores very well being bottled in Kilner jars or similar, to see you through until next season.

About June-ish, the oxalic acid starts travelling downwards towards the stems, so stop picking then; an old way to remember is to stop picking teh rhubarb when teh first gooseberries are ready, a mehtod I've used for years. Actually, teh stalks should be pulled, rather than cut or picked, gently pulling to remove them with a whitish heel on them.

Baking is better than stewing, as the fruit will hold its shape well. Cooked, it freezes well.

Remove the flowers as they form, to prevent the plant running to seed, and to ensure its vigour for building up for next year. A good thick mulch of manure will do it the world of good over winter, topped off with a winter cap of straw, and you'll be harvesting it again before you know it.

1 comment:

We are having rhubarb crumble today, the first stems picked this season. I always chop and freeze my rhubarb before cooking, but it does make a lot of juice that way when cooked. Is it too juicy when the cooked rhubarb is defrosted? Best wishes, Pj x

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I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,The shelter of a roof above my head,And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.I have found such joy in things that fillMy quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,A potted plant upon my window sill,A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,And books I long have loved beside me there.Oh, I have found such joys I wish I mightTell every woman who goes seeking farFor some elusive, feverish delight,That very close to home the great joys are:The elemental things- old as the race,Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Currently on the needles

Autumn leaves scarf

Crochet blanket/s

Shetland Fairisle kits

Dishcloths

Wartime Farm Fairisle top

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.